Bern or Portofino?

Portofino has the Mediterranean, though not a proper beach. You swim in clear, deep water off the rock platforms towards the lighthouse, in the small sandy bay at Paraggi or at the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso, and the sea stays pleasant from June into early October. The catch is that every spot is small and crowded in summer, and paid beach clubs take up much of Paraggi.

In Bern, swimming means the river. People walk upstream from the Marzili and let the cold, fast Aare carry them back, or take the train to the bathing spots on Lake Thun. It is memorable but brief, limited to roughly June to early September and to confident swimmers.

Neither is a place to travel to for the food, and both charge a lot for it, but the cooking is very different. Bern serves hearty Alpine food such as Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in guildhall dining rooms and arcade cellars, and has weekly markets with Emmental cheese and excellent chocolate.

Portofino offers Ligurian dishes such as trofie with pesto, fritto misto and Recco's cheese focaccia on terraces facing the yachts. There is no market and nowhere casual of note, so keen eaters head to Camogli or the trattorie in the hills.

Bern has far more to see. Its old town of arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the carved Minster would be enough on its own, and the Zentrum Paul Klee, the Kunstmuseum and the Einstein Museum give it real depth for a city its size.

In Portofino the sight is essentially the village itself: the horseshoe of tall painted houses around the harbour, San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the walk to the lighthouse, plus the abbey at San Fruttuoso. A day covers it, and there are no museums of note.

Bern is hardly a party city, but it has more to do after dinner. There are vaulted cellar bars under the arcades, busy weekend streets around Aarbergergasse, summer bars along the Aare and late, rough-edged nights at the Reitschule. In Portofino the evening is a dressed-up aperitivo and dinner facing the yachts, then little else, and anyone wanting more heads along the coast to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, one for mountains and one for the sea. From Bern, the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are about an hour away by train for high-mountain hiking, cable cars and winter skiing. Closer in, there is gentler walking on the Gurten, along the Aare and across the Emmental.

Portofino's park is smaller but full of drama. Cliff trails cross Monte di Portofino down to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa, some with chains, and the marine reserve offers red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss for divers. The headland is best walked in spring and autumn, while Bern's mountains are at their best in summer and, for skiers, in winter.

Bern is the easier base by some distance. It sits at the hub of the Swiss railways, so Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are about an hour away and Fribourg, Murten, Thun and Solothurn are even closer, all year round and with no planning needed.

Portofino has a lovely coast to explore: Camogli, Santa Margherita, Genoa and, in summer, the Cinque Terre by ferry. Arriving by boat is half the charm. Outside the ferry season, though, every trip starts with the bus to Santa Margherita station.

Bern is much easier with children. There is the bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo, the animal dioramas at the Natural History Museum and the playground on the Gurten, all reached by pushchair-friendly trams. Only the fast Aare needs real caution.

Portofino is safe, but it is built for adults. It has steep steps, no playgrounds and little free sand, so families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and make a day trip to Genoa's aquarium.

Bern is one of the simplest cities to get around. You can walk from the station to the bear park in about twenty minutes under covered arcades, the trams and buses are punctual and share one fare system, and funiculars run down to the river.

Portofino itself is tiny and easy on foot. Getting there and away is the problem: there is one narrow coast road from Santa Margherita, the summer buses are crowded, the ferries are seasonal, and the road jams in high season.

Bern is the better place for a proper browse, though few people would travel there just to shop. Its main shopping streets make one long covered walk down from the station, with Swiss chains, watchmakers and chocolatiers along the way. Towards the lower end of the old town the mood shifts to antiques, books and crafts in small cellar shops. A large centre on the western edge handles mainstream brands, so practical needs are as easy as souvenirs.

Portofino is the reverse. Its few lanes are given over to the big fashion and jewellery names and to linen and swimwear, a kind of luxury that Bern barely offers, but beyond some lace, ceramics and Ligurian pantry goods there is little else. You can see all of it in less than an hour before lunch, and for a longer afternoon of shops you need to go to Rapallo, Chiavari or Genoa.

Both are among the most expensive places to stay in Europe, so neither is a budget choice. The difference is in how you can soften the cost. In Bern, hotels usually include a pass for local trams and buses, many of the main pleasures are free, and supermarket counters and market stalls make for cheap lunches.

In Portofino, the expense is concentrated in a handful of luxury hotels and terraces that charge for the view. The usual answer is to sleep in Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Camogli and come over for the day.

Bern has a real evening programme for a small capital. There is opera, ballet and drama at the Stadttheater, the Bern Symphony Orchestra in the Casino, new dance at the Dampfzentrale, a spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July. Portofino offers only occasional summer concerts in the piazzetta or at the castle, so for opera or theatre you go to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and both offer calm, but Bern has the edge for spa time. It has a large thermal bath and sauna complex on its western edge, a hammam-style spa in the old town, and mountain spa hotels in the Bernese Oberland within reach.

Portofino's restful side is the sea view and the quiet, shaded paths, and spa time is limited to the luxury hotels on the hillside. At midday in high summer the tour-boat crowds fill the harbour, so it is most relaxing out of season or early and late in the day.